Bondi spars with Schiff at testy confirmation hearing: 'You were censured'

Schiff, a vocal critic of the president-elect, asked Bondi about whether she would investigate former Special Counsel Jack Smith and also former Rep. Liz Cheney.

"I'm asking you sitting here today whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate Liz Cheney," he said.

"Senator, no one asked me to investigate Liz Cheney, that is a hypothetical," she said.

She then turned the tables on Schiff, noting the crime rate in California.

"You know what we should be worried about? The crime rate in California is through the roof. Your robberies are 87% higher than the national average," she said. "That's what I want to focus on, senator."

"What I can tell you is I will never play politics, you're trying to engage me in a gotcha," she said.

Schiff shot back, asking her if she would advise against blanket pardons by President-elect Trump and suggesting she would not be able to look at every file on day one.

Bondi was furious at Schiff's comments.

"I'm not going to mislead this body or you, you were censured by Congress, senator, for comments just like this that are so reckless," she said. 

The incident was one of a number of sharp exchanges that the former Florida AG had with Democrat lawmakers. She was asked by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., about the weaponization of the DOJ.

"It would not be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime?" Whitehouse said during his line of questioning. "It's a prosecutor's job to start with a crime and look for a name. Correct?"

"Senator, I think that is the whole problem with the weaponization that we have seen the last four years and what's been happening to Donald Trump," Bondi said.